Record Open Wheeler and Touring Car grids for 2012 Phillip Island Classic

A record grid of up to 38 high-powered open-wheeler racing cars will be a spectacular highlight of the 23rd annual Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motor Sport organised by the Victorian Historic Racing Register from 9-11 March 2012

An expected 35 thundering Formula 5000 V8-engined racers from the 1970s, including leading cars from New Zealand, the USA, Canada and the UK, will be joined by several former Formula 1 cars from the 1980s in races at the meeting, each of which will feature a rolling start.

Another highlight will be the huge field of former Group C (1973-1984) and Group A (1985-1992) touring cars, with seven-time Bathurst winner Jim Richards and four-times Australian champion John Bowe amongst the drivers on the planned 40-car grid.

The ‘Class of 1972’ will be a further feature of the meeting, marking the 40th anniversary of Peter Brock’s memorable Hardie-Ferodo 500 win in a Holden Dealer Team Torana XU-1 – the first of his record nine Bathurst victories.

A special painting created by noted Australian motorsport artist Mike Harbar showing Brock’s Torana leading John French’s second-placed XY GT HO Phase III Falcon and Doug Chivas driving the third-placed Chrysler Charger is being created specially for the meeting and will be auctioned for charity.

The 1972 race was notable as the last Bathurst where competitors were allowed to complete the full distance without a relief driver and it was the only time the big three Australian manufacturers all had representatives in the top three finishers.

The 2012 Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport is also on track for another 500-plus entry, with those received to date at the same level as the all-time record received for the 2009 meeting.

The meeting will again be supported by Shannons, CoolDrive and Penrite, with race officials supplied by the Victorian Mini Club.

Other highlights of the meeting will be: –

• Celebrations of 60 years of Lotus engineering

• The appearance of several special cars flown in from the Porsche Museum in Germany

• Displays by up to 40 different car clubs and their members

• An anticipated record number of trade stalls.

The Phillip Island Classic Festival of Motorsport remains one of the largest and most respected motorsport historic motorsport events on the international calendar.

It was recently short-listed in Octane Magazine’s inaugural 2011 International Historic Motoring Awards, coming in just behind the Goodwood Revival in the prestigious ‘Motorsport Event of the Year’ category.